It's summer vacations, the time that calls for a plunge into pond, river or the sea to cool down. However, beneath the calm surface of the waters could be hiding death traps that are never anticipated.

Most of those who dive into rivers are armed only with swimming lessons learned from pools. It's better to have precautions to face dangers in the deep waters.

The biggest drowning tragedy during this summer vacation happened on April 15 at Wairi beach in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, when eight engineering students drowned during a picnic. Last year in February, 14 students from Pune had drowned at the Murud beach in Raigad.

Unnikrishnan, 23, and Harikrishnan, 17, lost their lives while trying to save their relative Adityan who had risked drowning. Even Unni and Hari, who live on an islet that extends into the lake, could not read the dangers of the water. Two or more victims are not unusual in drowning tragedies as most of the times someone would sink and others would risk their lives trying to save the first one. No one should rush in to save someone falling into the waters even if one is good at swimming. The first attempt should be to provide a rope or a stick or a long clothing to help that person come closer to the shore.

If that doesn't work, one can take a plunge only if one is sure of his/her swimming skills. Children should better not attempt it and seek help from elders.

Those rescued from water should be made to lie to the left side. This is to prevent water from the mouth from flowing back to the lungs.

» Press the chest hard. Give artificial respiration through the mouth or nose. The heart functions for nearly three minutes after breathing stops. Brain death occurs only after seven minutes. The early minutes, therefore, are precious.